Denial: Not Just a River in Royal Woods
by Weavillain
Summary: Ronnie Anne and Lincoln both agree that their respective siblings are saps when it comes to love. No way would THEY ever act like them. (Lincoln x Ronnie Anne)


For Ronnie Anne Santiago to say that she was miserable was the understatement of the century. She had been invited by Lincoln Loud to come over his house and hang out. Like they both feared after the first time these arrangements happened, it didn't take long for Lincoln's sisters to put two and two together and figure out the kind of relationship that they had. The initial teasing was embarrassing to say the least but by now, it was scarce enough for them not to get flustered to the point where Ronnie Anne wouldn't want to come over anymore. It took Lincoln really laying it in on his sisters for them to _mostly_ back off after that became evident.

Lincoln Loud wasn't doing much better. He had invited her into his room so that they could read Ace Savvy comics together on his bed. Most of Lincoln's collection was new to Ronnie Anne and he didn't mind re-reading old issues, that he knew like the back of his hand, if it meant hanging out with his girlfriend. Unfortunately, all of their quiet time was being rudely interrupted with Lori's giggles and chattering at random intervals as she moved about the house. Like she always did with a phone and free time on her hands, Lori was talking up a storm with her boyfriend, Bobby, without a care in the world and without any interest in keeping her voice down. Closing the door to drown her out wasn't an option to them since they both decided that letting cool air travel into the room was the best for them.

Ronnie Anne finally had enough. She tossed the comic away in irritation and glared at Lincoln.

"Yech! You didn't invite me over just so I could listen to _that_ all day, did you?"

Lincoln put his comic away, too, albeit much more gingerly. As annoyed as he was with Lori at the moment, he couldn't quite understand Ronnie Anne's complaint.

"Why're you complaining? Don't you deal with the same thing at your house with Bobby?"

"Yeah, but at least he tries to play it cool…even if he is a big dork about it. There's usually no sappy, mushy babbling from him. Usually."

Like always, Ronnie Anne seemed to have a point. Lincoln conceded that boys were generally less mushy about love. He couldn't prove it scientifically like Lisa probably could but he always imagined the guy being suave and cool while the girl would be a babbling mess of hysteria.

"I guess you're right. I can't imagine him being all like…"

Lincoln cleared his throat and increased the pitch in his voice to try and match Lori's to the best of his abilities.

"Like, oh my God, Bobby, I can't believe you didn't notice the new brand of eyeshadow I used! I got it just for you because I know how much you think I look good with it on! Don't you love me?!"

Ronnie Anne was quick to join in on the act, deepening her voice to match her brother's as best as she could.

"Of course I do, pooky bear! Why, a day without you is a day not worth living!"

"Oh, Bobby! I just knew you'd agree!"

"Totally babe!"

Both Lincoln and Ronnie Anne burst out laughing, kicking their feet up and clutching onto their sides as they rolled around on his bed. This was a pastime that they had established since their infamous double date with their respective older siblings and no matter how many times they indulged themselves in this brand of mockery, it was always just as funny as the last time they did this.

"Could you imagine us acting like them?" Lincoln wheezed as he wiped a tear from his eye. Ronnie followed suit as she tried to come off her laughing streak.

"Is that a serious question, Lame-O? Of course not! Sure, we kiss n' stuff but at least we don't act like dopey characters on a teenage sitcom like they do!"

"I know, right? Like, for instance, why do they get all weird and sneaky when they try to hold hands when they think no one's looking? I mean, it's a lot less intimate than kissing and we handle that just fine, don't we? We could totally hold hands without acting like them, right?"

Ronnie Anne paused for a moment. She was about to definitively ensure that yes, of course they could do the same thing as them without sacrificing their dignity but a small part of her hesitated. She always felt her heart race and butterflies fluttering around in her gut whenever they would share a hug or kiss each other but those sensations were brought about by these _brief_ gestures of affection. Deliberately holding hands for a prolonged period of time, something they had never done before, would certainly bring about those feelings in her body but would she be able to withstand them long enough to not wind up like the babbling, love struck sap like she thought Lori was? Well, there was only one way to find out…

"Totally! Like, if we were to do this…"

Without warning, Ronnie Anne reached out to Lincoln and grabbed him by the hand, their fingers intertwining with one another. If Ronnie Anne didn't know better, she'd think that Lincoln was nervous because of his slightly sweaty palm. She couldn't think about that right now because as she predicted, her heart was threatening to leap out of her chest and she was almost certain that she was blushing. A little, anyways.

"See? No problem, right?"

"Yeah. Um, no problem."

Lincoln's peculiar response prompted Ronnie Anne to look up at Lincoln and to her surprise, his head was turned away from her, almost as if he didn't want her to see his face.

'Is he…just as nervous as I am?'

Well, that was just fine. Being nervous was one thing but at least they just went about and did it. So they didn't exactly stick the landing with hand holding. Big deal. They were still ahead as far as she was concerned.

"Lincoln, are you alright? You look kinda out of it. Everything okay?"

Immediately, Lincoln turned his head back around and flashed the most unconvincing grin that Ronnie Anne had ever seen in her life.

"Y-yeah! Just peachy! I was…uh…thinking about all the lame stuff that we could do like they do but without acting dumb like them."

Yep, he was definitely nervous. She had to admit, she was the same way but if his words were true, he wanted to push the envelope even further and try…other things. Although Ronnie Anne wasn't completely sure of herself, she decided that this was for the best. If they could get through all these trials without faltering and transforming into Lori and Bobby, they would win.

"Oh, that gives me an idea! Hold that thought."

Ronnie Anne broke the hand hold and gestured for Lincoln to circle around on his bed until he was staring outside the window of his room. Lincoln obeyed without hesitation and looked on in awe as Ronnie turned to him so that her back was facing him.

"Y'know how Lori likes to sit on Bobby's lap sometimes and watch the clouds with him while they talk all that sappy junk to each other?"

"Uh huh?"

Lincoln didn't need a cue card to know where this was going.

"I bet we could do the same thing without getting all weird like they do."

Slowly, Ronnie Anne backed up and placed herself snugly between Lincoln's legs with her back firmly pressed against his chest.

"S-see? Easy peasy. Nothing to it, right?"

" _*gulp*_ Yep, yep, yep. Nothing to it."

Thankfully for the both of them, facing the window in this position meant that neither of them could see the other's beet red face. However, their intimate embrace meant that they were both dealing with dilemmas of other sorts. For Ronnie Anne, she could feel Lincoln's breath ghosting over the side of her neck as he exhaled. Meanwhile, Lincoln was tempted by both the natural aroma of Ronnie Anne's skin tantalizing his nostrils as well as the sight of Ronnie Anne's neck being so close to his lips. As much as he wanted to drown out the thoughts that said to go for it and trail kisses along the side of her face and neck, he realized the he was fighting a battle that he desperately wanted to lose.

Circling his arms around her waist, he drew her even closer to him, and leaned forward to press his lips against her neck. He heard Ronnie Anne gasping but otherwise, didn't resist his advances at all. Feeling bolder, Lincoln did it again, eliciting the same response along with goosebumps breaking out along her skin.

"L-Lincoln? What're you d-doing?"

Lincoln was taken aback by how meek and reserved Ronnie Anne was acting. He had never seen her like this before, probably because she never saw this side of him before. It was a new, exhilarating experience for the both of them and Lincoln knew that he wasn't through with her yet. Rather than answer her right away, Lincoln continued lightly trailing kiss after kiss along her neck and cheek. Once he got to her freckles, he lightly scraped the skin with his teeth, making Ronnie Anne sigh in contentment.

"I don't know. I just…c-can I kiss you? You look really good today. A-any day, really."

When she didn't immediately answer him, Lincoln slowly lowered Ronnie Anne down onto his bed and was surprised by how…majestic Ronnie Anne looked. Her flushed cheeks and half-lidded eyes; it was something that he never thought he'd see from her and it only stirred up his desire. It was the most alluring thing he'd ever seen.

"Okay. I don't mind if it's you, Lincoln. Y-you're the only guy for me."

He got her permission. That was all he needed to take the next step. He laced their fingers together as he slowly lifted his leg up to move over on top of her until he was straddling her. Closing his eyes, Lincoln leaned down, anticipating the familiar but intoxicating taste of Ronnie Anne's lips. He was almost there when…

"LINCOLN! RONNIE ANNE! LOOK ALIVE!"

Lincoln immediately knew what that meant. Shielding Ronnie Anne's body with his own, both of them tightened up reflexively as something whizzed by their heads until the mystery object loudly smacked into the wall. Lincoln looked over and cringed at the dent the object made into the wall.

' _Seriously, Lynn, now of all times?'_

Knowing that her sister would be charging in his room in no time, Lincoln quickly got off of Ronnie Anne, tossed her the comic book that she threw aside earlier, and silently begged her to act normal. Ronnie Anne quickly got the memo and resumed their prior comic book reading as fast as they could before Lynn ran in, making sure that no one in Lincoln's room had taken a hard puck to the face.

"Sorry 'bout that. I didn't think my hockey puck would reach that far down the hall. Guess I don't know my own strength."

When both didn't respond to her apology, Lynn just shrugged and went over to retrieve her hockey puck. As she bent down to pick it up, she couldn't help but notice that Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were suspiciously…fidgety. And sweaty. And blush-y. Lynn smirked as the gears in her head cranked at maximum speed. This was way too good to pass up.

"Saaaaaaaaaay, I wasn't interrupting anything in here, was I?"

As if they had been electrocuted with 500 volts, both accused pre-teens tossed their comic books in the air and animatedly denied her implications.

"Absolutely not!"

"No way!"

"Are you serious, Lynn?!"

"We're just friends!"

"Why would you even think that?!"

"He's not even that cute!"

Lynn chuckled. They weren't even trying. It was way too cute. She knew she promised not to tease them anymore but sometimes, low hanging fruit was meant to be picked.

"Alright, alright. No need to get all defensive. Hey, speaking of defense, Lincoln, you wanna help me practice my soccer goalie skills? It won't take long and you can get back to your girlfriend in no time."

"She's not my…ugh, forget it. Later, okay?"

"Gotcha. I'll see if Dad can help me out in the meantime. Hope he doesn't get a Charley horse this time."

They both sighed in relief as they heard Lynn's wild cackling disappear from out of earshot. They both looked at each other only to immediately redden and look away. After seconds of awkward silence ticked by, Ronnie Anne was the first to speak up.

"See? T-totally not weird at all."

 **A/N:** Between writing fanfiction and watching Luke Cage on Netflix, my already lackluster social life is thinning down to practically nothing. Someone help me! (x_x) Anyways, this is something that I've always been kind of uncomfortable to even attempt. Any diction involving intimacy, even when tame and subdued like used here, can really kill the mood or not even create one to begin with if you're not good enough. And no, just in case you were wondering, they were not going to go THAT far.

Like always, I hope anyone reading this is willing to give me some pointers on how I should manage this type of writing in the future.


End file.
